1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector and to a connector assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,547 discloses a connector assembly with first and second housings that can be connected with one another. A lever is mounted rotatably on the first housing and is formed with a cam groove for engaging a cam pin on the second housing. The cam groove and the cam pin cooperate when the lever is rotated to move the housings together or apart. A resilient piece is provided for holding the lever at an initial position so that the cam pin can be received into the cam groove. Other known connectors include a slider as a force-multiplying mechanism instead of a lever. Specifically, the slider is mounted to a female housing and is formed with a cam groove that engages a cam pin in a receptacle of a male housing. The male and female housings are connected by sliding the slider. A resilient piece is engaged with the female housing for holding the slider at an initial position, and such an engagement is canceled upon connecting the two housings.
The resilient piece is deformed during a connecting operation of the two housings in the above-described connector assemblies. A resilient piece that remains deformed after completion of the connecting operation could be set permanently in fatigue. Thus, the resilient piece should be restored resiliently as the connecting operation is completed. A special space has been provided in the female housing for restoration of the resilient piece, thereby hindering miniaturization of the female housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,476 discloses a connector with a female housing, a male housing and a slider that can be operated to connect and separate the two housings. The slider is moved in directions intersecting connecting directions of the two housings. The slider is formed with a cam groove, and the male housing has a cam pin engageable with the cam groove. The housings are fit lightly together with the slider held at a partial locking position in the female housing and with the cam pin engaged in the cam groove. The slider then is pushed to a full locking position. As a result, a cam action of the cam groove and the cam pin pulls the housings to a properly connected state.
A moving direction of the above-described slider intersects a force acting direction. Thus, this type of slider is not likely to separate from the housings even if wires are pulled while the housings are connected properly. In many cases, the slider has a locking section for holding the slider at the partial locking position and at the full locking position in the housing, but with no lock arm for locking the slider and the housing together.
Thought has been given to providing a slider with a lock arm to deal with an unpredictable situation. Such a lock arm would be resiliently deformable and engageable with a lock on the housing. The slider with the lock arm is inserted into a housing with the lock arm deformed. The lock arm returns resiliently to engage the lock when the slider reaches a proper insertion position. Thus, the slider and the housing are locked together. The lock arm can be pressed to cancel the locked state so that the slider can be pulled out. However, external matter could interfere directly with the lock arm, and could break, chip or deform the lock arm. Further, the slider is difficult to separate because the operable portion of the resiliently deformable lock arm is unstable if an attempt is made to pull the slider out while keeping the slider unlocked.
The invention was developed in view of the above situation, and an object thereof is to improve the overall operability of a connector and connector assembly, in particular allowing a miniaturization a connector and connector assembly as a whole.